I got an email this morning and she is back to our normal Cathie. Eating three plates of pasta the day of the surgery. She says to thank you all for your words and prayers and hopefully she will be back soon. She is home now.

Billye

Thank you again for updating us Billye. The news is certainly sounding good, especially the pasta

I am so glad she is home and now she can relax and recover with (I hope) a lot less worries. She is one tough lady.

Best wishes

Tony

yummm pasta heals,so Cathie baby your healing,yes Sue

Thanks to all of you so much for your kind and supportive posts. And thank you Billye, for keeping people updated on how things went.

I am home and feeling a lot better. I had to get out of there in a hurry, because their food was outstanding, I was eating myself sick. That has to be a first in hospital food to my knowledge... The extra steroids made me very hungry and at 6:00 am yesterday, I was in the nurses' area in the refrigerator digging into leftover cheesecake... Mmmm....

A funny thing happened the night before we went over to the hospital. I laid out the directions to where we were supposed to go along with pulmonary tests my doc wanted the anesthesiologist to see. I put them right on the floor in front of the door where I would be sure NOT to miss them... Well, someone else came along and didn't miss them either... Miss Minnie, who put a really big puddle right on top of them... I guess she looked on them as newspapers to use for her own personal potty... I was UPSET... Anyway, hubby saved the day by drying them out and copying them in the fax machine and voila! Fresh, clean papers... That dog!!! Always something!!!

I am very relieved over the outcome of the surgery. It certainly is a relief to know that I am not faced with thyroid cancer. I am recovering very well and will be back to my old self quickly...

Thanks again for all of the posts. I appreciated these so much!
Cathie

I DO believe she was, well, making a 'statement'? And a good one overall - critters are, in some ways smarter than we are...aren't they?

As for Huggy and hair dryer...that he got them dry enuf to go thru a fax machine w/o turning into MUSH is amazing! Kudos to this smart guy!

GOOD food in a HOSPITAL? Isn't that contradictory? OR was it the fact that you didn't have to cook or clean up? [That was my take on my experiences...tho mostly they didn't want me to eat more than pablum and jello for the most part -] I recall that I had asked for something more to CHEW on - on occasion, and indicated that I mite chew on furniture or PEOPLE if I wasn't accomodated within a reasonable time? You know, you essentially FAST before these things and then, well, they give you mush! Come on folks...I NEED FOOD! I am jealous that they even had something EDIBLE at your hospital!

Now for the IMPORTANT PART:Meaning: the initial biopsies show NO bad 'C' Stuff? That IS beyond SUPER!!!!! I can imagine you going to sleep at nite and [as I have] just shuddering in relief that it's not BAD!, better yet, not bad at all? The things our minds think up? Sleep well tonite my special good person. You have earned at least one good, pain free nites' sleep! - j

Cathie,

Well I was all set to offer you congrats and general good cheer . . . but then you start saying things like: hospital food was good, scarfing leftover cheesecake, and stories about some loco pooch!!

I am so sorry that I am not currently in practice, but I am quite sure I can refer to a trusted colleague. Now, just sit down with a comforter and a hot toddy, and if you see any people in white coats, just don't pay any attention. I am sure you WILL be fine . . . in a few days . . . few months . . . something like that.

rafi

Heh heh heh... Thanks Richard-I may need that before this is all over... The food was really good though, and not at all what you would get at their hospital cafeteria. It is called "Dine on Demand" and is only available to patients, not even the staff is able to order from it. It apparently is a program that just started this year. If I had had to stay another 2-3 days, they would have had to wheel me out in a wheelbarrow...

I am doing OK, but am terribly allergic to all kinds of tape and the steri strips they have over the incision are eating up my skin.

Cathie

P.S. Thanks for the congrats and good cheer though... Miss Minnie sends her love.

Hahahaha! Yes, refer on!

Seriously, so glad you're better.

rose

tell the truth,come on say it.....Ok i will Cathie has been seeing men in white
chothes for year, and of course she ignore the freaky ones,could that
be all of them. Cathie see's chessecake and heales...yes we are so happy.
And funny doggie,i love that dog.. oh Sue

Thanks all. Such a special bunch!! I may have to eat a whole cheesecake in your honor...

I do have one thing I would like some opinions on regarding care.

My doctors are all over town, I mean ALL OVER and no one ever seems to talk to anyone else. So, if one is in the hospital undergoing surgery and they are in the midst of a nasty flareup of connective tissue disease, who is supposed to be in charge of adjusting the Prednisone dose one is on, if your docs aren't even at the same hospital? How are you supposed to get your care co-ordinated under circumstances like this?

My CC/Pulmonary Doc took care of the steroids in the hospital, but I believe you are supposed to up your steroids for a period even after surgery and today I am paying for it, because this was not done.... I am doing OK, but sure am hurting a lot this afternoon... The surgery area is fine, it is the muscle, joint, burning stuff that goes along with the connective tissue disease and PN that hurts.

Any ideas on how to go about getting care better co-ordinated? Or is there such a thing any more???

Thanks,

Cathie